These easy red velvet whoopie pies are wonderful treats, hand-cakes that are devil’s food chocolate or red velvet, filled with cloud-like whipped cream. And of course, beg to be decorated on certain holidays. What if the ingredients were healthy? Let’s explore..
Easy Red Velvet Whoopie Pies.
This IS the easiest healthier whoopie pie recipe you’ll undertake, and with the addition of beetroot powder, one of the healthiest! Sorry if that’s too bold a claim. I don’t really know what whoopie pie experiences you’ve had😂.
Well anyway, I’ll tell you about it, see what you think!
The recipe is basically a vegan chocolate cake recipe so you can actually use any chocolate cake recipe you’d like and add beet powder by first dissolving it in apple sauce.
If you do use my cake recipe, hopefully the ingredients are in your pantry – just be careful with the measurements and it is fairly fool-proof, save for the typical variations that occur in all baking.Mix wet, mix dry, combine, pour, eighteen minutes in the oven and you are done!
And I do emphasize that this recipe really works just fine, dumping the dry in one bowl, and the wet in an other, and then blending the two. No special order necessary.
And the whipping cream is equally easy: just blend up some coconut cream and sugar into a whipped state, and slather in between two red velvet halves.
Eat as cakes or freeze and eat as ice cream sandwiches.
Does the Beetroot Add Nutrition to Baked Goods?
Yes! So what does beet powder bring in terms of nutrition? Well, beets are rich in antioxidants, dietary fiber, calcium, iron, potassium, folate and manganese.
They are also so rich in nitrate, the compound that can improve blood flow and lower blood pressure, and boost athletic performance.
Now admittedly, three tablespoons of powder – even concentrated – doesn’t deposit that much extra beet nutrition into each of 6 whoopie pies. Still, a traditional red velvet cake mix is typically made red using a red dye with questionable health qualities. So, I think I’ll take the red beet powder, thank you. Are you with me on that?
Oh, and in the instructions, I do explain how you can use roasted beet puree if you have it on hand. I hope enjoy this chocolatey traditional dessert!
And of course leave off the beetroot if you want chocolate whoopie pies. Like so..
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Red Velvet Whoopie Pies
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup gluten-free baking flour
- 3 tbsp cacao powder
- 3 tbsp beetroot powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 flaxseed egg (Mix 1 tbsp ground flaxseed with 3 tbsp water)
- 1/2 cup apple sauce unsweetened
- 3/4 cup organic cane sugar
- 1 cup nut milk activated 10 min with 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
Whipped Coconut Cream Filling (Makes 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 (14 oz) can coconut milk (Chill the can overnight; you will only use the solid portion for this recipe)
- 1/2 cup vegan powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
Useful Equipment
- Whoopie Pie Pan (I personally have another kind of whoopie pie pan that is no longer sold, so I am providing the only option I can find currently. It squares sides a bit. You can also just use any muffin top pan or even a donut pan for a donut shape.)
Instructions
Prep
- Reheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Make the flaxseed egg and let stand for 5 minutes.Activate the nut milk by stirring in the ACV and setting that aside for 10 minutes. - Open the coconut milk can, save the solids for the whipping cream; reserve the liquid for future recipes.
- Blend the beetroot powder with the applesauce until color is completely even and powder is dissolved. (At this point, you can substitute the beetroot powder and applesauce for 1/4 cup of roasted beet puree if you want to, although it will make the cake texture a bit heavier)
- Using a hand-mixer or spoon, mix the dry ingredients.In a separate bowl mix the wet ingredients and then combine the two. Interestingly, no special order is necessary, the texture is just fine.
- Use an organic cooking spray or coconut oil to grease the inside of a whoopie pie pan, muffin top pan or even a donut pan. You'll need 12 halves to make 6 sandwiches.Fill with batter about 2/3 full.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool 5 minutes and then gentle tug them out of the pan being careful not to rip them. Let them cool completely before you fill them with cream.
Make the Cream and Build Sandwiches
- Whip up the coconut cream filling ingredients (using only the solid portion from the can of coconut milk) either with a hand-mixer or a blender. You want a creamy whipped cream texture. Taste-test to be sure it is sweet enough for you.
- Pipe or spoon the cream onto one half of a whoopie pie and top it with the other. You want a thick layer of cream.I refrigerated mine for an hour or more to cut them without the filling oozing. Or you can even freeze them for an ice-cream-ish sandwich treat! Enjoy!
Nutrition
Dee Dine is founder of Green Smoothie Gourmet, a plant based recipe blog, and author of the recent cookbook, Crazy Healthy with 4 Ingredients . On this blog you’ll find incredibly easy recipes with hidden veggies for anyone wanting to eat healthier, regardless of diet. Dee has graduate degrees in sciences and journalism. More about Dee Dine here.